Dick Clark

Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark (30 November 1929-18 April 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer, and film actor who became a cultural icon from his hosting of television shows such as American Bandstand, Pyramid, and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. Born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1929, he became an employee at his uncle's radio station, WRUN, in Rome, New York in 1945; he was almost immediately elevated from being a mailroom worker to being a backup weatherman, and later to being a station break announcer. He later moved to the Philadelphia suburbs and hosted American Bandstand from 1957 to 1988, also hosting the game show Pyramid and the New Year's Eve special New Year's Rockin' Eve. Due to his perennial youthful appearance and his largely teenaged audience of American Bandstand, he was nicknamed "the world's oldest teenager". He suffered a stroke in 2004, but he returned to his New Year's Rockin' Eve a year later, and he continued to host it until 2012, the last year of his life. He died of a heart attack following prostate surgery at the age of 82.

Clark was, according to IMDB, a lifelong conservative and a Republican. However, he was best known for improving race relations during the Civil Rights movement, and American Bandstand was one of the first integrated shows on national television.